Mike Whaley: Kaylee’s spirit is something worth cheering about

Inspiration can be closer than you think. Seth Fogg knows that as he draws a ton of it from his younger sister, Kaylee.

Seth is the starting point guard for the Spaulding High school boys basketball team, which is 11-3 and off to one of the best starts in program history. Kaylee Fogg is indisputably Seth’s No. 1 fan.

When Seth was 12 and he played youth football in Rochester for the Wakefield Black Panthers, Kaylee was right there on the sidelines cheering for her brother.

As he’s gotten older, Kaylee has continued to go to Seth’s games, his unofficial cheerleader from the stands or sidelines, watching the cheerleaders and learning the cheers.

Kaylee cheers for her brother with a rare passion even though she has a disability her doctor lists as “spastic quadriplegic” and “developmentally delayed – global.” It is akin to cerebral palsy.

It does nothing to dampen her spirit.

In fact, members of the Spaulding cheerleading team have been so genuinely taken by Kaylee’s spirited cheering that they presented her with a Spaulding cheering T-shirt two years ago, a set of pom poms last year and this school year they felt, since she was now a high school freshman, she should be part of the team to cheer for her brother during his final year .

“When Kaylee was in seventh grade we (the current seniors) all knew that she was always there for Seth, his biggest fan,” said senior Kayla Daniell. “We knew she was going to be on the team when she got to high school. That was kind of a no-brainer.”

“She’s the most spirited person I know,” said senior Becca Moore. “She’s the definition of a cheerleader.”

Of course, though senior cheerleaders like Moore and Daniell pushed for Kaylee’s inclusion on the team, it wasn’t that simple. Because the cheerleaders also go to competitions and Kaylee cannot be on the floor for those because of her disability. In the end she received a waiver as an alternate on the regular team, which allowed her to cheer at games.

Her father, Nate, recalls Kaylee coming out of the stands several years ago and standing next the cheerleaders for part of the game and doing some of the cheers.

“One game Becca and one of the other girls came over with a Red Raider cheerleader T-shirt for her,” Nate said. “They presented it to her. It’s something she’s quite proud of and still wears today.”

Kaylee’s inclusion has made a huge impression on the Foggs, who know the difficulty children with disabilities can have trying to fit in. It can even be harder when you are from a small town that sends its students to a larger high school. The Foggs live in Wakefield, which tuitions its high school students to Spaulding.

“The transition down here has been great,” said Deb Fogg, Kaylee’s mother. “She enjoys going to school. She looks forward to practice. The teachers, everybody, have been really supportive. Seth has felt the same way his four years.”

Kaylee, who is quieter around people she doesn’t know, as she was for this interview, opens up in a familiar setting where there are family and friends. Cheering is familiar ground and Kaylee is comfortable being vocal, even between cheers when the other cheerleaders might be quietly standing. Not Kaylee, who will happily burst out with, “Come on Dominic. Come on Seth.”

Seth thoroughly enjoys having his sister so near at hand to cheer him on.

“It’s always been a pleasure having Kaylee cheering for me throughout my entire life,” said Seth. “It made it one step better having her actually part of the team. It gives me a little extra motivation going into the game. I’m moving on after this year and she might not be able to cheer for me again. It gives me a little extra for this year.”

The Foggs are touched by the compassion shown by the Spaulding cheerleaders who have embraced Kaylee as one of their own.

“She’s been accepted very well here,” Nate said. “A big part of that is being on a sports team and knowing so many of Seth’s teammates that she can say hi to in the hall or during lunch. It’s a comfortable fit for her. The girls are very supportive and very nice.”

A third cheerleader, Kallie Glovinski, is Kaylee’s cheering caretaker, making sure Kaylee’s bow is in place and her laces are tied.

When the cheerleaders are practicing tosses, Kaylee generally leaves early and when Nate picks her up, he is touched by how the other cheerleaders treat his daughter. “As she’s leaving, they’re saying ‘bye Kaylee, bye Kaylee, bye Kaylee.’ They’re very polite and it seems very genuine.”

Moore, a friend of the Foggs, recalls going to the Fogg house and Kaylee, even then, wanted to do cheers with her.

“So I would teach her cheers I knew and she would teach me some she knew,” Moore said. “I always knew that she loved to cheer.”

“She walked on the team and knew every single cheer by heart,” Daniell recalled. “She’s still the most spirited. When we goof off in practice, she gets us back in line.”

Moore added, a smile forming on her face, “Sixty percent of being a cheerleader is having the attitude and the spirit and Kaylee has that. There’s no question about it.”

Three cheers for Kaylee.

Mike Whaley is the Sports Editor for Foster’s Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.